


why storms are named after people

by emeraldcut



Category: Good Girls (TV)
Genre: F/M, First Kiss, Second Kiss, Sexual Tension, more kissing, soft Rio, third kiss, this whole thing is going to be traumatic probably
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-22
Updated: 2019-03-22
Packaged: 2019-11-28 01:41:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,422
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18201785
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/emeraldcut/pseuds/emeraldcut
Summary: "We, the jury..."Beth's breath caught in her chest. She stared back at him, only vaguely aware of the foreperson speaking, of Ruby's side-long glance from her spot next to Beth on the bench. They were seated on the side of the prosecution, but only at Stan's insistence, which obviously became Ruby's insistence."...find the defendant, Mario Rivera..."*An emotional shit show of Brio sandwiched between Rio's trial outcome.





	why storms are named after people

**Author's Note:**

> this was inspired by own sad post on tumblr. set in future season 2.  
> i'm sorry this is so long, and i'm sorry this, well, what it is. i'm hoping it's not too confusing, but to clarify: the first part and last part are the same scene, which is the verdict at rio's future trial. everything in between is before said trial.

"I will take you to museums, and parks, and monuments, and kiss you in every beautiful place, so that you can never go back to them without tasting me like blood in your mouth. I will destroy you in the most beautiful way possible. And when I leave, you will finally understand **why storms are named after people**." - Caitlyn Siehl

*

"We, the jury...."

With the exception of the verdict being read, the courtroom was eerily still. Somewhere in the large room, which was more like an auditorium, someone cleared their throat. Another person coughed.

The voice of the jury foreperson—a slender, tall woman with silver hair and bangles adorning her arms—echoed throughout the courtroom. The bangles on each bony wrist clattered together, an indication of her nerves.

Beth couldn't blame her. Who wouldn't be nervous? There were only a few dozen eyes watching her. The judge, the other eleven members of the jury, a district attorney and assistant district attorney, a gallery of observers, most seated and a few stragglers gathered in the back to observe, and a defense team compromising of three attorneys, Gretchen Zorada leading the team. Despite her delicate appearance and  _Good Housekeeping_  smile, Gretchen was a hurricane of a woman. Beth, along with the entire courtroom, had learned early in the trial that Gretchen was intimidated by next to nothing and bowed down to even less.

It was no wonder Rio had picked her.

Rio, in his black suit and black tie, looking more like a suave funeral attendant than the defendant of multiple felony charges, was peering at the foreperson with an unreadable expression. He was stoic, solid, watching the woman from his spot next to Mrs. Zorada.

And from her spot between Ruby and Annie on the back row, Beth watched him.

"...in the above-entitled action..."

Beside her, Annie leaned forward, barely a millimeter, a movement that would have been unnoticeable if not for the room’s stillness, and Beth felt Ruby's hand cover hers at the same moment Rio turned his head and began to scan the crowd behind him. He inevitably met Beth's gaze and held it, like that’s what he had been looking for all along, and smiled at her.

*

The first time he touched her,  _really_ touched her, Beth felt undone, completely and irrevocably, like a piece of ribbon unraveling, strings frayed out on each end, and she had never felt so ashamed. In the days that followed, after he had shot Dean, she would stop whatever she was doing and tell herself that Rio hadn't noticed the way she leaned in to his hand, to the comfort it provided, and neither had Dean.

But Dean had noticed. She could see it in his eyes, in the way his lip curled at the sight of her. Dean had looked at her in a lot of ways over the years, whether he was frustrated by her parenting choices or embarrassed by her drunken giggling on girls' night or trying to save face for himself, but before that night, he had never looked disgusted by her.

As the weeks passed, the disgust turned to resignation. Acceptance. He would argue with her, sure, but the fight had left his eyes, left his soul. And then he looked at her like he knew, like he  _knew_ without a shadow of a doubt that she wasn't  _his_ anymore, and Jesus, Beth would think, why did she have to belong to anyone?

Rio kept touching her. He wouldn't stop, actually. Like he knew what Dean knew, even if he never said it.

The second time his hand brushed her cheek, they were standing outside of her house, both of them swallowed up by darkness. Beth was fine with it—the darkness, that is. She was too tired to fight him or the darkness, or even death, if it came to that, and she thought that it might.

When he touched her face, she remembered the other times she had felt his hands, first on the back of her neck when he examined the emerald necklace, and on her shoulder when he would walk away, leaving her with her mortally injured pride, like a wounded animal in the road.

Each time his fingers caressed the fullest part of her cheek, it felt like he was a different person, like he wasn't the man who had shot her husband or threatened her family, the families of her sister and her best friend. He felt  _good_.

It wasn't just the way he caressed her. It was the knowledge that he was a parent, that a small life depended on him, which she had been painfully ignorant to before seeing Rio's son in the park.

And Jesus, Beth would think, what if she belonged to him now?

*

When he offered her the kingdom, she was skeptical, to say the least. She was sure he was full of shit, to say the most. How do you go from threatening someone's life to handing over your life's work to them?

But Rio was full of idiosyncrasies, Beth came to realize. She had thought he was a mystery to her just because they were different, because they had lives that existed in alternate universes, but it wasn't the crime or the money that made him so confusing. He was the abnormality, the enigma.

Sometimes she thought his brain functioned on a different level, and other times, she was sure she could hear his every thought.

_"I'm going to teach you."_

She still trembled at the memory of him saying it, but he was true to his word, if nothing else. He had taught her how to play the game, a game she never would have been invited to play without him, and how to be  _good_ at it. Thanks to Rio, she was running the dealership and making a substantial profit—from her legal dealings at Boland Motors and from her less acceptable role as a money launderer.

Now she did the work, and Rio got to kick back, doing whatever it was he did now that he wasn't frightening housewives.

Beth pushed away the image of Rio and instead focused on the mail in her hand, shuffling through the stack to inspect the front of each envelope, but none of it looked especially important, so she dropped the mail on the counter and deposited her keys and purse next to it before starting towards her bedroom. She couldn't even be bothered with an evening cocktail, not when her feet burned from the arch of her heels and all the standing around she had done at the dealership throughout the day.

Her hands were fumbling idly with the belt of her coat when she entered the room and spotted him already inside, leaning against a dresser on the farthest side of the room. She froze, momentarily stunned. It had been a long time since he had popped up in her house. In the months since he had given her the storage key, he had less and less reason to show up unannounced and question her. It was almost like he trusted her.

Almost.

Beth forced her shoulders to relax, dropping her hands from her jacket and raising a brow. "Vacation getting dull, boss?"

Rio shook his head. "Boss? Nah, that's all you," he corrected. "The Boss Bitch." His lips curved up and then parted to reveal a wide grin. He said it the way he had always said it, like he was handing her a badge of honor.

She rolled her eyes, but her own smile gave her away. "Yeah, right," she managed to huff, uncertain she could trust herself to say much more without showing him just how gleeful his praise made her, but she jutted her chin and pushed on. "What if Dean had walked in here instead? Or the kids?"

"What if he did? Don't know how he remembers my last surprise, but his odds ain't so good," Rio said.

"You sound so proud," she muttered in response. They had never talked about him shooting Dean, not really. She had never brought it up. Bringing that night up meant bringing up her weak response to his touch. She didn't want to be weak, not anymore.

But Rio was watching her, a glint in his eye, the way he used to when he was trying to trap her. "Why would Dean be here?" She didn't miss the way he gave special emphasis to Dean's name, like a small reminder of his disapproval.

"Excuse me?" Beth almost snorted. "It's his house. He lives here."

"Does he?"

That caught her off guard. "Of course he does." The words came out a little too loud, too eager.

Rio nodded, but it was clear he wasn't agreeing. He was mulling over her words. "Weird," he said, pausing to continue bobbing his head. "Right, right. It's just weird, yeah?" He spoke with resolve now, with meaning. "Weird how he lives here but hasn't been here in a few weeks."

Beth clenched her teeth, not because he was wrong, but because she realized he knew he was right. Dean had moved out, albeit unofficially. Kenny's therapist had confirmed that he was secure enough to process the change and told them that if they were going to end the marriage, they should get on with it. There was only one way Rio would know any of this, considering they hadn't filed any paperwork, or even updated Facebook.

"You're watching my house?" she asked.

"Watchin' you," he said, low and menacing despite his calm demeanor, and she had to remind herself that for all of his intimidation tactics, she hadn't done anything wrong this time. She was exactly who he had wanted her to be, and she wouldn't back down. Not now.

"Okay, fine." She nodded in return, keeping her tone level and shoulders pushed back. She wouldn't let him see her flustered, struggling to speak. "Okay, you were watching me. Whatever that means. And now you're going to stop."

Rio cocked his head, eyes sweeping up and down the length of her body. They stopped south of her face, no doubt where her chest was, despite the fact that Beth had on a heavy coat and a blouse, the epitome of business casual. It was like he could see right through each layer. The thought sent a chill down Beth’s back. When his gaze lifted, it was a slow, crawling movement below lidded eyes, and she felt surprisingly enraged, even more so by his silence.

She threw up her hands. "Why does it matter if Dean's here or not here? If he's living here or not?"

Rio didn't answer. He didn't even blink.

"I don't need to be watched," Beth said with certainty, fixing him with a stare of her own.

Rio shifted in his spot, still leaning against the dresser, but provided no other response. He was still staring, clearly unabashed by the way he licked his lips as he looked across the room. His confidence was a slap in the face considering the swarm of birds fighting for space in Beth's stomach.

She hated his silence. She hated the way it made her feel, how it nestled in her chest and magnified her pulse. Anyone who had complained about nails on a chalkboard had clearly never experienced the quietness of Rio or anyone like him.

But something was different about this silence. There was something there, something in the lack of words that told her something. She thought it was the look in his eyes. She had seen that look before, but she had never told herself she knew, never let herself even think about what it meant. Never called him on it or let him know she noticed it, let alone believed what the look said to her.

Beth couldn't ignore it now. Rio had been watching her, watching her home, and that wouldn't have phased her a few months ago, but Rio had already backed off. He had handed off responsibility to her and all but slapped a stamp of approval across her forehead as far as business went. If he wasn't watching for business, for error, he was watching for something else.

Beth lifted her hands to the belt on her check and untied it, peeling the heavy cloth from her body and letting it fall to the carpet. She willed herself to move forward, and by some miracle, her legs obeyed, assisting her in crossing the room. She only had to go as far as the end of her bed, Rio having already pushed off the dresser and started his own stride towards her. They came to a stop just in front of each other.

"What are you doing here?" Beth whispered, head tilted up to look him in the eye.

"Do somethin' about it," Rio murmured in response. " _Boss_." The word came out like a growl, his eyes locked on her mouth. 

Beth accepted the challenge, straightening herself and pushing up on to the balls of her feet to close the distance between them. When her mouth touched his, she felt the fluttering in her body suddenly stop, as if the birds in her belly were too stunned to flap their wings. She held her lips against his for a few seconds, just feeling the warmth of his mouth, and then she pulled back, checking for a response.

Rio was motionless in the moment that followed, his expression clouded and difficult to read, more difficult than ever. She stared openly at his parted lips and started to speak, but he was already lifting his hand and running his fingers down the side of her face. She shivered, though she wasn't sure if the reaction was just in her head or if it reached her body, and held her breath, waiting for him to say something. She waited for him to shut it down, to crush her, to call her on her weakness.

But he didn't say anything else. He dropped his hand to her hip and moved in to kiss her. This time their lips moved instantly in unison, crashing together in a frantic and rough race to see who could push back harder and faster. He pushed his body against hers, radiating warmth, and his hands moved around her hips to press against the small of her back. In response, she hooked her arms around him and held him, each of them fighting for control or dominance, or maybe it was just them fighting for  _more_.

When they finally parted to breathe, his fists held the bunched fabric of her blouse, and Beth had her arms wrapped around his neck, holding steadfast. Both of them breathed heavily in the small space between their faces, and Beth thought to herself that his breath smelled like cinnamon and coffee, which made her smile. Her mouth and the skin around it burned from the way his stubble had pricked at her during their make out session—which, Beth told herself, she would not feel guilty or too old for having.

Rio looked down at her in a way that made her smile disappear. She searched his eyes, her mouth agape in awe at this new expression. There was something so open about his countenance, something almost euphoric in the way he was gazing at her, and just like that, the birds were back, dive bombing her insides.

*

They didn't sleep together.

But Beth's lips and the flesh around them, where Rio had kissed her and let his stubble scrape her, were tender and bruised for days after their encounter. When she returned to the dealership the next day, she felt like everyone could see how her mouth ached, but she knew that was insane.

And thinking about the kiss, thinking about his warmth on a constant loop, that was even more insane since Beth all but ignored him when he appeared at her house the next day, this time considerate enough to wait at her front door like a normal person.

She had side stepped him and carried her bag of groceries inside without a word, and Rio's shit-eating grin had practically hit the floor when he realized she had nothing to say. He recovered quickly, always the poster child for steely resolve, and sauntered in, mirroring her silence as he joined her in the kitchen and began removing groceries from the bag. When everything was in its rightful spot, and Beth turned her back on him to begin doing dishes, he left, not a word spoken between the two.

She gave him a similar cold shoulder several days after that, when he appeared at Boland Motors, asking questions about business. Determined not to come off like a moody teenage this time, Beth was as receptive as possible to his inquiries, shooting off numbers, trying to be as stealth as possible as she moved about the office. She knew that he was advancing towards her on purpose, trying to get his hands on her, and she knew why: once he touched her, she wouldn't want him to stop.

The only solution was to make sure he didn't touch her, which had resulted in a game of cat and mouse that left them practically circling the office, Beth scooting away with a plastered smile, and Rio looming, never too far behind, a look of unmistakable enjoyment drawn on his face.

Their third encounter after the kiss, exactly a week following the scene in her bedroom, they met at a bar. Beth had sipped the bourbon and felt her determination withering, so she did the reasonable thing and fled to the bathroom, forgetting that Rio didn't understand or respect boundaries. He had materialized in the bathroom like a poltergeist, ambling towards her until she felt her back hit the wall in the tight stall.

Weakened by the liquor and the scent of his cologne, Beth kissed him again, but as soon as she felt his hands on the bare skin of her hips, she had shoved him, hard, and reached around him to unlock the door.

"You should go before I puke," she told him, not meaning for it to sound as hateful as it did.

Rio's amusement had definitely passed by the way he glowered at her. He gave her a final once-over, snorted, and disappeared.

She was acting like a child, as petulant as a third grader. The resentment she felt was unreasonable, almost laughable. When Rio had told her that she wanted to play in the dirt but remain clean, that hadn't only been applicable to crime. She felt the same about him. She skirted around his flirtation, pretended she didn't see the way he leered, told herself that he was only inviting her so he could shut her down.

And when he hadn't shut her down, he had opened her up. If she let him in, she didn’t trust enough to believe he wouldn’t rub salt in her open wound.

Nine days after the second kiss, Rio requested her presence at the park via text message. She hadn't seen or heard from him since the bar bathroom, and Beth thought, with painful regret, that he had finally decided once and for all that she wasn't worth messing with. She told herself it was for the best, but her mouth ached all over again, this time just a phantom pain from the lack of contact.

"It's late," Beth said as she approached his car, sounding as tired as she felt. She came to a stop in front of him. "What do you want?"

Rio looked up from his phone. It was more of a glance, really, and his eyes returned immediately to the piece of technology in his hand without as much as a word.

Beth's cheeks were hot. "Did you call me out here just to ignore me?" Wouldn't that be some poetic justice?

He must have thought the same thing, because his mouth twitched as if he wanted to grin. In the end, he didn't, finally lifting his head and fixing her with a cold stare. "Who is this?"

She gawked, confused. Realizing he was holding the phone up to her, she tore her gaze from him. A picture filled the screen, similar to the one of Rio that Agent Turner had showed her, but this wasn't an image of Rio. It was a close-up of Mary Pat. She wrinkled her nose and looked between Rio and his phone.

"Who is it?" This time the question sounded like a warning shot.

Beth mentally shuffled through her options. Should she tell him the truth? How much of the truth would she even tell him? She didn't have time to fight herself on this. "She was engaged to Boomer," she blurted out, eyes wide in an attempt to convey innocence. She wanted to say that the creep had blackmailed the poor woman, but Rio didn't look sympathetic. "Leslie. The witness. Turner must be trying to find out—"

"She's talking," Rio interrupted. He had shoved his phone in his back pocket. "Try again, Elizabeth. Who is it?"

A wave of humiliation washed over her. She had never explained the circumstances of Leslie's death to him, or even addressed the fact that she wasn't the one who killed him. She told herself it didn't matter. Did Rio really care about the details, or did he just want her to handle it?

They did handle it. They dumped the body and went on with their lives, went on with business, just like he had taught them. Somewhere in the deepest part of her memory, Beth heard her grandmother's voice: the devil's in the details, sweet pea.

_No, Grandma. The devil drives a black sedan, and he's right here._

Accepting defeat, Beth's face fell. "She's my bad egg, okay?"

"Okay?" Rio parroted. He spat out a dark laugh and twisted his neck, looking away from her. "Nah. Nah, it's not okay. I thought you handled it?"

She scoffed. "I did! What did you expect me to do, kill her? I'm not a  _killer_ , Rio." As soon as the words were out, she realized her mistake. She clamped her mouth shut and watched for his reaction.

And Rio, as always, did not disappoint. His eyes snapped back to her face, wide with fury, and he took a big step forward, planting himself in her personal space. She would have fallen backward if he didn't catch her by the shoulders. He studied her for a long time. Despite his grip on her, he wasn't squeezing, and it didn't really hurt, but the message was clear.

"I—I'm sorry," she managed to say, her voice small. She cleared her throat. "I'm sorry. I didn't think you cared about the little details. I didn't—"

"I think you bein' a liar is a big detail, sweetheart."

Indignation erupted in her chest. "I didn't lie!" She twisted out of his grip and jabbed a finger at him. "You didn't ask what happened, not after the first time! I didn't think you cared! You didn't care!" She knew that he was technically right, that she was a liar, at least in the literal sense, because she  _did_ lie to him, but—

"I look like I don't care?" Rio shouted.

"I  _handled_ it," she insisted. "Turner talking to Mary Pat is—"

He squeezed his eyes shut, as if that action alone would trap his frustration and stop the explosion. It didn't work. "Turner's not the one talking! It's her. She's talking to him. She's talking to the feds. Are you hearing me yet?"

She paused, thinking, racking her brain for what the hell could be going on. Did Mary Pat turn them in, even after they had dumped the body for her? She waved her hands, blubbering for a second. "What would she have to talk about?"

"You tell me."

She was blinking again. "I can talk to her. I can tell her that we know what she did, that we helped her, and that she can't turn on us like—"

"It's not you she's talking about!"

Beth's throat closed up. She didn't know if it was what he said or how he said it—almost screaming in her face—that did the trick, but she did hear him, loud and clear, and the implication of it struck her down like a bolt of lightning. Her chest heaved as she struggled for words, for air. "I don't... I don't understand. She doesn't know you."

"That's funny." Rio sucked in his bottom lip. His tone had returned to the same low grumble that it usually was. "Yeah, real funny since she's their new key witness an' all."

Spots burst in her line of vision, shades of bright white and purple, like she had a head injury. She tried to blink them away. "Does that mean... there's still a trial?" A metallic coating filled her mouth, and Beth realized she had bit her tongue hard enough to draw blood.

He nodded, swiping a hand over his face. The anger had faded, and now he looked... tired. Overwhelmed. The way Beth looked when she was stressing over bills or broken appliances or her children, and at that thought, Beth's mind drifted to Marcus, to how his father facing federal charges and a trial would take its toll on the little boy. In that moment, Beth didn't have to ask what Rio was thinking, because she knew.

She took a step forward, reaching for him, not really connecting with any part of him. When he didn't snap at her or push away, she moved her body forward, sidling up to stand closer to him, their torsos almost touching. Her hands found his chest, and she gripped the fabric of his shirt.

They stood like that for a few moments before Rio finally looked down at her. "You gonna tell me what really happened?"

Frowning, she nodded slowly. After a pause, she asked in a whisper, "Do I have to tell you now? Do we have to talk right now?" When he shook his head and held her gaze, Beth felt her strong-will threaten to fall. And it did eventually fall away, losing layer after layer until it was gone entirely, allowing her to place a hand on the back of his neck and pull his mouth down to hers.

Despite the fact that he was just red-faced and yelling, Rio was quick to respond, gripping her hips and almost immediately deepening the kiss. It wasn't longer before she felt his hands moving down to cup her ass, and then he was gripping it forcefully, pulling her up and closer, causing Beth to let out a surprised huff and push her hands under his shirt. He smiled against her lips, sending a burst of tingles down the entirety of her body.

*

Beth was almost asleep when she felt his fingers running up the length of her exposed arm. She smiled and pushed against him, trying to be closer, as if she weren't already burrowed in his arms. She kept her eyes closed, focusing on the rough pad of his finger as it reached her elbow and then began the journey back up to her shoulder, sending a chill through her body.

They were cuddled up in her bed, covered only by a thin sheet, which was pulled up over Beth's chest and tucked under her chin as she dozed. She would have never pinned Rio as the type to cuddle at all, let alone full on  _spooning_ , but it was the best way to be proven wrong. She loved the way his bare stomach and thighs felt pushed up against her own naked skin, but the best part was what else was pressed up against her. Her lips curled up in a grin.

"You're an addict," Beth announced in a sleepy voice.

Behind her, there was a low, rumbling chuckle, followed by a hand slipping beneath the covers to touch her bare ass. "You complaining?"

She sucked in a breath. "Never," she cooed, her stomach tightening with anticipation for where else his hand would travel. When she felt his palm move over her hip and brush her stomach, she sighed, happily, and waited for him to reach her center, but instead of exploring, his hand stopped on her lower torso, below her belly button, resting right where her C-section scar began. While she was wrestling with her own insecurities, he spoke again.

"Trial starts next week."

It took a while for the words to sink and hit home. When they did, Beth bolted upright, twisting to look over her shoulder. "What did you just say?"

He was propping himself up on an elbow. "You heard me," he said with a lazy smile, like he didn't just drop a nuclear bomb on their Wednesday afternoon. When she continued to gape at him, he deflated a little. "The trial's next week. Starts on Monday. Gretchen's got it all handled, though, so this don't have to be a thing... C'mon, mama, lay back down."

"What are you saying? What trial?" She could feel her words coming out squeakier and squeakier in the midst of her panic, but she couldn't stop herself. Her pulse resembled the Energizer bunny with a sledgehammer, making quick work of ability to self-soothe. "How can there be a trial? We took care of it!"

There was a time when Annie's old boss was the "it" that she would be referring to, but Mary Pat had taken his place in more ways than one. There was also a time when Beth couldn’t have been convinced to let the woman meet the same fate as Boomer, but after the truth came out about Mary Pat working with Turner to put Rio away, she required very little convincing at all.

"They decided to move forward without a witness." Rio shrugged when he said this, sparking more frustration in Beth.

She twisted her body all the way around, tangling herself up in the sheet until she was seated and facing him on the bed. "What? That's ridiculous. They can't do that."

"But they did," he replied, raising a brow.

"Stop smiling," she snapped, feeling her ears and neck start to heat up.

As usual, her snark only added fuel to his fire, and he did the very opposite of what she asked, laughing outright. He reached for her, trying to grab her hand, and looked unfazed when she pulled out of his reach. He exhaled loudly and dropped his hand. "This is why I didn't mention it."

"You kept it from me."

"You kept a few things from me, too," he reminded her, giving her a pointed look.

She shifted uncomfortably, trying to move the sheets that were caught beneath her. She felt alarmingly exposed all of a sudden, but not because she was naked. The scenarios had already started to flash through her brain: Rio flipping on her, Turner finding the final nail to drive in her metaphorical, legal coffin, Rio putting her in an actual coffin. The latter was one she should have been more prepared for, but a part of her wanted to believe that Rio wasn't the kind of man who could sleep with a woman and then kill her. She turned her face from him, trying to shield her doubt.

Rio was silent, no doubt reading her. He had a way of picking apart her every expression and movement. As if on cue, he asked, "You worried?"

She shot him a weary look. "One of has to be."

"Why?"

"You're going on trial. In federal court." Each word came out with annunciation. She watched him, wide-eyed. "How are you not freaking out right now? And how could you not tell me so I could freak out sooner?"

After a pause, he took a deep breath and softened his expression. "Elizabeth," he began, and she felt a jolt in her nervous system at the way he said it. "This shit happens. Alright? I told you, this stuff's medieval. You think this is like the movies? Good guy wins, bad guy goes away? Nah. Nah, it ain't like that." He shook his head and lowered the elbow supporting him, flopping back on to the bed. "Getting locked up, that's a risk, and trial? That's a risk." He hesitated, as if letting the rest of his point pass silently, the fact that incarceration was also a risk. "It's a dangerous business. But that's why you set up a system, a plan. So when shit happens, you can face it and know the rest of the shit's handled."

"What about Marcus?" Beth forced herself to ask.

His face darkened for just a second. "My son will always be taken care of," he replied. "He's got a mom, aunts and uncles. Even an  _abuela_ ," he added with a smirk, but Beth was still hung up on the part where he had referred to Marcus's mom. Had Rio been married? Were they on good terms? These were things that you talked about when dating, but she had to remind herself that this wasn't dating. They were never going to share holidays or blend families.

"And me?" Beth said it quietly.

At that, Rio's hand snaked out and touched her thigh, somehow finding a way under the sheet. He gave her a playful squeeze. "Bet I could swing a little conjugal," he rasped.

She huffed and rolled her eyes, pawing his hand away. "That's for my married couples," she muttered, as if he didn't know that. As if he didn't know she was still married to Dean, technically speaking. "Anyway, that's not what I meant. But you know that."

His jaw rocked. "Spit it out, sweetheart."

She stared at him with a solemn expression, quiet for a little too long, and then forced herself to obey. "Should I be worried about..."

"Yourself?"

"Yes," she hissed begrudgingly. "About myself, about Annie or Ruby, about my kids. Should I be worried about getting called to testify or—"

"No."

"No?"

He shook his head in response, but to her surprise, he didn't look angry. He looked calm, almost resigned, as if this were exactly the conversation he had expected to have.

For as calm as he looked, Beth felt the exact opposite, guilt crushing her chest like a slab of concrete. She felt like she had so much to be guilty for, starting with the fact that it was her who turned him in and ending with the fact that she was naked in a bed with him, and still only sounded worried about herself. For whatever reason, he seemed fine with all of it, maybe because if it wasn't her who turned on him, it would have been someone else, and maybe because, despite their intimacy, he anticipated she would put herself first, because he did the same.

"You worry about business as usual, yeah? Can't have you slacking off just 'cause you think I won't be watching. I'm always watching." He looked genuinely serious for maybe the first time during the whole conversation, but the teasing in his tone was all too familiar.

She finally smiled, knitting her brows together. "What happened to me being the boss?"

"Oh, you can be the boss. Just don't forget who's King."

She snorted at the ridiculousness of it, but her gut twisted just the same. Even when his confidence infuriated her, made her wonder if he even understood the gravity of these things, it still made her legs feel like jelly. All she could think of doing was kissing the smugness off his face.

He seemed to have a similar idea. He gave the sheets a tug, hard enough to reveal the swell of her breasts, and stretched his arm out for her to lay down on his chest. "C'mere," he instructed gently.

Instead she just eyed him, trying to convey hesitance, but she already had a goofy smile, weakening. "Say please," she whispered, even as she moved down towards him. She nestled herself in the crook of his arm, resting her head on his shoulder and letting him pull her tight against his body. After a few minutes of resting against him, Beth started to kiss his neck.

Rio held out for a while, remaining still, but eventually he grunted and reached down for her thigh, hiking it up to rest on his abdomen. In response, she squirmed against him, moving her kisses down to his collarbone as she ground her lower body into his. This time he held out for only seconds before he tangled a hand in her hair and yanked her head up, kissing her hard, and her scalp burned in the best way. She allowed herself to be moved, pulled on top of him, and lifted her torso so he could reach between them and guide himself inside her, moaning into his mouth when he began to thrust.

*

Beth's breath caught in her chest. She stared back at him, only vaguely aware of the foreperson speaking, of Ruby's side-long glance from her spot next to Beth on the bench. They were seated on the side of the prosecution, but only at Stan's insistence, which obviously became Ruby's insistence. 

"...find the defendant, Mario Rivera..."

The trial had taken two weeks. She didn't know if that was slow or fast, but then again, maybe it was just average. Agent Turner had been seated in one of the front rows through those entire two weeks, and all of the women had caught him glaring openly at them at one point or another. Rio had told her she didn't have to worry, but Beth still found herself doing just that. More than anything, she just wanted to know what was happening behind the scenes. Had Turner wanted to nail them to the same wall? Had Rio protected them? If Turner's scowl throughout the trial was any indication, he certainly hadn't gotten everything he wanted out of the trial or evidence.

And surprisingly, there was a lot of evidence, even without a key witness or testimony from Annie, Beth, or Ruby. In the last two weeks, Beth had learned a lot about Rio, including his full name and the fact that he had been a very, very bad boy—or at least, that's what the prosecution implied. The trio were surprised to find out that with the exception of his most recent arrest, Rio's criminal record had been sealed because it was all from his juvenile years. The realization of just how long he had been in this life made Beth feel warm.

She felt warm now, too, with Rio's eyes on her. Even from the opposite side of the courtroom and in the back, she could see him suck in his bottom lip as he stared openly at her. She swallowed, hard, and tried not to squirm. The room tilted around her, and Beth's world hung sideways on its axis as she fought that familiar itch, the one that reminded her how badly she wanted to be touching him.

"Guilty."

Annie gasped, and so did someone sitting behind Rio, presumably a family member of his that Beth would never meet. Ruby's breath shuddered, and her hand tightened over Beth's, but Beth was already shaking Ruby's hand off and bolting out of her seat. Ruby let go and tried to shift out of the way, probably thinking Beth was going to run out of the courtroom, not deeper in.

"Beth!" It was Annie calling her, followed by a hand at Beth's back as her sister frantically swiped at her, no doubt trying to grab Beth's shirt and stop her.

Immediately after Annie spoke, another voice came, "Beth, what the hell?" That time it was Ruby, hushed and frantic, no doubt right on her friend's heels.

Beth ignored them both. She moved to the center aisle and raced towards the defendant table. People from Rio's side had started to stand up, and she could hear someone weeping, probably that abuela he was talking about. Despite the kick to her gut that thought gave her, she ignored it and kept moving, not even stopping when she heard the familiar sound of Turner calling out, "Mrs. Boland! That's a bad idea!"

 _Oh, fuck him,_ Beth thought. How would he know it was a bad idea when Beth didn't even know what she was doing?

A court officer noticed Turner bristling and immediately zeroed in on Beth. He was a burly man with a bald head and chunky arms, but even the sight of him advancing towards her did little to stop her march towards Rio. She got as far as the divider and threw herself against it, ignoring the way her thighs smacked against the wood and effectively halted her journey.

Gretchen had also noticed Beth's charge. The woman turned and narrowed her eyes at Beth, but she said nothing, an indication that Gretchen knew or at least suspected Beth's role in Rio's arrest and, now, his conviction. Beth felt the blood and shame rush to her face as she met the attorney's stare, but really, she felt much more than that; she felt about a dozen sets of eyes on her, putting her front and center of the courtroom so to speak, in the same spot of the foreperson just a minute ago.

Rio was the only one who looked unfazed by Beth's dramatic quest. He had gotten to his feet and shook the hands of the two men working with Gretchen Zorada, and now he was back to looking at Beth as she gripped the wooden divider and stared at him with pleading eyes. His jaw was set, and as he looked at her, she could see his jawline flex as he rocked it back and forth. Her eyes burned as tears materialized, but neither of them moved to touch one another.

The court officer had reached her. He started by touching her forearm. "Ma'am?"

She flinched, feeling her stomach roll. She didn't want anyone to touch her, not unless it was Rio, and that obviously was not happening.

"Ma'am, excuse me?" When the officer tried again, grabbing her now, she turned her head and scowled at him in disgust, jerking her arm away and out of his reach.

"Did I say you could touch me?" Beth barked. She mostly ignored the look of shock that crossed his face, but she did think to herself with a bit of delight that it probably wasn't every day that a middle aged woman challenged him like that.

In front of her, Rio was laughing. The man who had just been convicted of about half a dozen felonies was laughing at Beth for yelling at a court officer. Beth looked back at him with wide eyes, silently imploring him for... well, what? They couldn't say anything right now, couldn't touch each other, that was for sure. He cocked his head to the side, clearly struggling to hide his grin, and watched her with such pride that her chest tightened, and she felt a tear slip out. When he saw it, the smile faltered, and he looked as sad as she had ever seen him, like he might want to comfort her.

Beth opened her mouth to speak at the same time she felt a new set of fingers on her wrist. She knew without looking that it was Annie who was standing just behind her, gently tugging on her arm.

"Beth," Annie whispered, voice and hand trembling, "we need to go."

Beth had never told her sister about kissing Rio, about sleeping with him, about craving him, but when she shot Annie a quick glance, it was clear that she wouldn't need to. Annie looked at her sister with so much pity, as if to say,  _Why did you do this to yourself? Didn't you know it would end like this?_  

When Beth turned her attention back on Rio, two guards had appeared beside him, and one was placing handcuffs on him. The sound of the cuffs tightening made Beth nauseous, but Rio kept his chin jutted and shoulders pushed back, eyes glinting. The guard gave him a push, moving him forward, closer to the divider and to Beth for a quick moment.

As he passed, he licked his lips and gave her one of his infamous body-sweeping glances. "Guess you're the King now, darlin'," Rio told her, and then he was gone.


End file.
